Welcome to Mali

First, I should explain my being away for a few weeks. I recently took a trip to Great Britain, visited many, many sites, and overall had a blast! London I thought was a very fascinating city and probably my favorite of the trip, though Edinburgh and Bath were also very, very good. I thought about music a lot, especially the music from this country, which has always inspired me or at least excited me. Some of it was good, a lot of it was bad, but I think the bad was the result of the BBC not playing enough good stuff. Or maybe I have it backwards. Either way, I’m back.

Welcome to Mali is an album from Amadou & Mariam, a couple from Mali that has been making music for years. Their music mixes elements of African beats with blues and pop to make it easily accessible. Both Amadou and Mariam are also blind, which makes their music even more inspiring. Welcome to Mali is their 5th studio album.

#109 – Amadou & Mariam, Welcome to Mali (Metascore = 86)

Welcome opens with the single “Sabali”, an 80’s-sounding track with synthesizers, a drumbeat straight from a drum machine, and high-pitched singing (from Mariam). “Ce N’est Pas Bon” brings in guitars, chimes, and Amadou’s singing (backed by Mariam). This is one of my favorite tracks from the album because it feels like it has chants but also because of Amadou’s crisp guitar to back the music. “Magossa” is also a great song with a head-nodding beat to it that adds an oboe (maybe?) and another stringed instrument (possibly the kora?).

While most of the album is centered around Afro pop, numerous other musical styles permeate from the songs. “Djama”, for instance, feels like it came straight from the Bob Marley catalog. “Je Te Kiffe” includes Spanish elements provided by artist Juan Rozoff. “Masiteladi” has distorted guitars and other harder rock elements mixed into an Afro pop beat. “Africa” contains raps from K’Naan; while it is one of their weaker songs (and a lot more sensual), the music is not bad at all.

One aspect of the album that does become tiring is that the songs start to sound the same over time. There doesn’t appear to be any exploration into other keys, and vocally the songs start to sound the same even though the lyrics are different. Maybe this uniformity was intended and there is a theme built around it, but at times the songs can seem monotonous.

“I Follow You” and “Welcome to Mali” are, in my opinion, the two songs that summarize the message they send. They are dense songs with multiple instruments mixed behind Amadou and Mariam’s vocals. Overall, the record is a solid record. The songs are fairly catchy (despite their monotony) and is a great introduction for someone that has never heard their music before.